Destroyer Tour
The Destroyer Tour also known as The Spirit of '76 Tour was a concert tour by Kiss, in support of their latest album. The August 20 Anaheim, California show was the most famous show of the tour, the band played to over 42,000 people, the biggest US crowd the band had played to. Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and Montrose were the opening acts. The J. Geils Band, Point Blank and Seger opened for them at their July 10 show in New Jersey, which was recorded and released on DVD decades later as "The Lost Concert". History Most indicative of the band's lowly position in Europe, or lack thereof, was perhaps the band's Paris show being scheduled for 3p.m. in the afternoon, so that the rabble could be cleared out in time for Jerry Louis comedic engagement during the evening. Only the Frankfurt and Stockholm shows could be considered to providing engagement grosses anywhere comparable with what the band were earning back at home. The risk to promoters was also palpable, with guarantees as low as $1,000 being offered (Paris). At least the band could report shows in England being sold-out albeit to audiences under 3,000 patrons in most cases. EMI International reportedly spent some "$60,000 on promotion... a general theme being 'lock up your daughters, KISS is coming'" (Billboard, 5/22/76) in the U.K, resulting in "Destroyer" entering the local charts at #37 and rising to #22 soon afterwards. "Alive!" also skirted the charts, though for the U.K. the album was initially only available on cassette at the time of the tour with a LP release pending. "Destroyer" also charted in Sweden where the band's reception was far more positive than had generally been the case elsewhere. The experience in Europe was humbling for the band. Paul recalled, "Nearly as soon as we landed, I hated it. We had become a big band in the United States. In England and the rest of Europe, we had to prove ourselves all over again. We were back at square one -- nobodies. Thank God for the fans. As we had seen back home when we started out, the fans in England were also rabid in their dedication to us. On the other hand, the food was horrible and the transportation archaic. The people who ran things were very stodgy. Merchants took perverse pride in the fact that you couldn't get dry cleaning back for a week. There was no air conditioning, and, if you pleaded, they might begrudgingly put one lone ice cube in a drink for you. These things were badges of honor to the older guard of the British Empire" (Face The Music). Whatever the case the band had at least finally had a taste of the other markets that were going to become increasingly important to them in the coming years. And, for that matter, they had at least finally toured outside of North America. Following a performance to less than 500 in Belgium on June 4, the band returned to the U.S. and continued the frenzied preparations for the proper "Destroyer" tour. Jules Fisher Associates, who had previously provided assistance to the band with their staging -- dating back to 1973 when Fischer acolyte Mark Ravitz designed both the spider-web backdrop for the band and built their original "KISS" logo -- were engaged to fully design the new stage set that would be used on the proper U.S. "Spirit of '76" tour. Matters were complex with the staging proving problematic as the crew and designers struggled with scale and technical challenges. At least the band's new costumes had been completed. The band had submitted their designs to Larry LeGaspi in April. The contract for their design and construction notes a cost of $4,775 for the set with Gene's unsurprisingly being the most costly at $1,575. The proper North American "Spirit of '76" summer tour was scheduled to kick-off in Richmond, VA on July 4, though that first date ended up having to be postponed until July 8, after initially being rescheduled for July 1. Ultimately, the first show in Norfolk, VA reported just 6,777 of 11,584 tickets being sold to mark the beginning of the band's new era. Overall, July saw the band tour venues filled to just 67% of capacity which while reasonable was certainly not keeping up with the aspirations for a whole new show and album. A second single from the album, "Flaming Youth," had stiffed on the charts reaching just #74 in early June (though admittedly the band hadn't been on the road in the U.S. at the time and it was more a matter of keeping something fresh for radio play). Its follow-up, "Detroit Rock City," fared even worse when it failed to chart at all. There was regional airplay in pockets where the band's popularity generally carried over from the "Alive!" period, but the band, album and tour were certainly not setting the world on fire. It was almost a case of too little too late when "Beth" changed both the band and record's success. The tour was in its final stretch by that point, but the unexpected success would pay dividends on the following tour. During the final shows of the tour the band's concert-filling performance certainly improved. August saw them performing to roughly 78% capacity. This trend of improvement continued into September, though the poor performance at Varsity Stadium skews the overall figure that would otherwise have grown to over 82% of capacity. Set List Tour Dates Category:1970 concert tours